Springfield Upheld In Denying Developers

A Bucks County judge has upheld a 1991 decision by the Springfield Township supervisors that denied a local couple's request to build a 25-home development on a 39-acre tract.

Township solicitor Mary Eberle said a ruling on Samuel A. and Jane Litzenberger's appeal was issued last Wednesday by Judge Edward G. Biester Jr. The Litzenbergers filed the appeal in 1991, Eberle said.

Because the land rests in an area reserved for agriculture, the Litzenbergers had to file for a conditional-use approval. They also had to get relief from a township ordinance that requires a minimum lot size of three acres. Because the plan called for 50 percent open space, each lot in the Litzenberger plan would have been equal to roughly half an acre.

Before the supervisors rejected the plan, Samuel Litzenberger argued that the zoning ordinance was flawed because it did not provide requirements for single-family detached homes.

He also argued that the three-acre minimum lot size is unconstitutional, Eberle said.

The supervisors rejected those and other arguments in their denial of the plan.

"The township is pleased with the judge's decision," Eberle said. "I think the township always felt that its ordinance was valid." The Litzenbergers could not be reached yesterday for comment.